Council Ties Up With CII To Survey Colleges On Industry-Preparedness Of Students

M Ramya | TNN

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has planned to rank engineering colleges across the country in a bid to create benchmarks on industry-readiness of students passing out of the campuses.The statutory body will identify engineering colleges with the best industry ties,rank and highlight their achievements to set an example for other colleges to follow.The council has tied up with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to conduct a survey of industry-linked engineering institutions and has instituted an award for institutions and faculty promoting ties with the industry.Often industry representatives tell us that colleges dont prepare students well enough to face the workplace,while institutes say the industry does not give them the required inputs.The idea behind the survey is to map the current scenario in India and to create a benchmark for engineering colleges to follow, said Tushar Garg of the CIIs higher education department.The AICTE will rank the top 50 colleges based on seven parameters governance,curriculum,faculty,infrastructure,services,entrepreneurship and innovation,and placements.Maximum weightage will be given to colleges that have the highest number of research projects,technology transfers to industry,and the highest number of students recruited through campus placements.A document from the AICTE explains the import of the initiative: Globally,excellence in higher education,especially engineering education,has thrived on robust industry linkages and collaborations.Producing quality human resource and contributing to social and economic development through research are two vital indicators of excellence of engineering institutions. The survey will showcase the best practices in AICTE-approved institutes in chemical,civil,computer and information technology,electrical,electronics and communication and mechanical engineering departments.The industry linkages of colleges will be obtained through a survey and the feedback analysed.The survey will capture success stories and best practices of industry-institute ties and create a roadmap for others to follow.AICTE accredited engineering institutions and university departments that offer a bachelors degree in at least three of the six streams for at least 10 years are eligible to take part in the survey.As part of this initiative,three institutions stand a chance of being given the Overall Best Engineering Institute award.There will also be six awards (one for each engineering discipline) for the Best Engineering Institute,and 18 awards (three for each stream) for the Best Engineering Faculty.The awardees will get a citation,trophy and cash award.A compendium carrying details of the top 50 colleges with the best industry linkages will also be published in November,when the awards are given away.

Chennai: The University of Madras examination scandal has triggered a polarisation on the 150-year-old campus after Professors Forum on Thursday filed a petition with the higher education minister seeking a CB-CID inquiry into the episode.TOI had first reported the resignation of the registrar (in charge ) last week after an internal probe named him and 50 other officials in the case relating to the tampering of marksin the2011BE/BTech anddistanceeducation exams.Higher education minister P Palaniappan has promised Professors Forum,which has AIADMK leanings,that he will consider their demand for an external probe.While sources say the higher education department has started studying the possibility of intervening in the matter,a majority of faculty members are against government intervention,as they thinkitwouldfurther politicise the matter.Vice-chancellor G Thiruvasagam and controller of exams T Leo Alexander,who relinquished the charge of registrar following the scam,were appointed by the previous DMK regime.Sources say the government is looking at the visitation clause, a provision in the Madras University Act,1923,which allows the government to access the university records and registers.But academic expertssayinvoking such a clause is virtually impossible at this stage as the university is an autonomous body with its own competent rules.The university takes disciplinary action under the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (TNCS )Act.A visitation clausecouldbe invokedonly if the government can prove that the syndicate and the senate have failed to take action or respond to the queries raised by the government, said a senior academician in the university.The vicechancellor,too,is not in favour of an external inquiry.Our internal investigations are on as per the university rules and there are nodelays, hesaid.Professors Forum leader S S Sundaram is hopeful that the governmentwould acton itsdemand.However,higher education secretary T S Sridhar said there were no plans to intervenein theuniversity probe.More conflicts seem to be emerging.Thiruvasagam said the K Subburaj committee,whichwas appointed after the S Karunanidhi panelsubmitted a list of 30 names,had no authority to add 21 names to the list of accused.The VC said the Subburaj committees duty was to framechargeson the 30 officials named by the Karunanidhi committee.Sources close to Subburaj contest this.Exam controller Alexander and senior officials in his office were namedin the Subburajcommittee report.The terms of reference was to investigate the procedural lapses in the conduct of the May and June 2011 examinations of distance education and B E/ BTech,and there was no restriction on naming others, said a source.

WHAT THE ACT SAYS

Visitation Clause,Chapter III in the Madras University Act,allows the government to conduct an inspection in the university for the cause of an inquiry

IT HAS THREE CRUCIAL STAGES

The need for an inspection has to be first informed to the universitys senate and syndicate Both bodies have to respond to the governments query explaining the actions they have taken on the issues/complaints as per the university rule The government can intervene in the issue only if the university fails to respond or give a convincing answer

Chennai: In the wake of the exam scandal in the University of Madras,a professors forum petitioned the state government seeking its intervention to improve the sorry state of affairs in the university.The forum has also demanded that the crime branch inquire into the malpractices and irregularities reported in the conduct of May 2011 distance education examinations and June 2011 BE/BTech examination.According tosources,one of the demands in the letter is to counter the Madras University Act,1923,one of the oldest University Act in south Asia.The act gives power to the university to constitute its own internal bodies for scientific inquiries and investigations.Last week,the University of Madras replaced its registrar (in charge ) Leo Alexander after an internal investigation named him in the list of 51 officials involved in the scandal,benefiting nearly 450 students.

Chennai: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is planning to withdraw approval for a few engineering colleges in the state for not having adequate infrastructure.The council has issued show-cause notices to 71 institutions,including several engineering colleges,as they did not have the required infrastructure or faculty as per AICTE norms.Inspection of colleges some random and some others on complaints have revealed thatseveralin thestatewere violating norms.All the colleges have sent in their responses to the notice.The AICTEs decision is pending.When the offenceisof grave nature,AICTE considersthewithdrawalof approval to these colleges.Some of the colleges fit into this category, said a senior official.Last year,AICTE withdrew approval to four engineering colleges in the state.The approval for Dr GU Pope College of Engineering,Jayaraj Annapackiam CSI College of Engineering,PadmavathiCollegeof Engineering and VKK Vijayan Engineering Colleges was withdrawn.Many engineering colleges get conditional approval from the council when they start with the promise that they will fulfil the norms as early as possible,but most go back on their word.They continue to run the institutions without the necessary infrastructure and faculty,cheating students and the affiliating body.They ought to be banned for the sake of the students, said a senior professor in thedirectorate of technical education.Tamil Nadu has the largest number of engineering and management institutions that have received a show-cause notice from the AICTE for violating norms.Of the 324 higher education institutions that were issued notices across the country,71werefrom thestate.If a college loses AICTE approval,it will not be able to admit students this year.Since the council is yet to decide how many colleges will lose the approval,ithas notbeen abletoinform Anna University,which coordinates the single window counselling system for admission to engineering courses in the state,of the actual number of seats that would be made available through counselling,an AICTEofficialsaid.However,the council has said that it has given approval to 14 new engineering colleges this year.This means that an additional 40,000 engineering seats are likely to be added to the seat matrix this year.Officialsin chargeof theTamilN adu Engineering Admissions saidthatthere areenoughseats for all applicants this year.Figures show that now the supply overshoots the demand by a wide margin.Last year around 45,000 government quota seats went vacant.

Beleaguered by charges of exam malpractices,University of Madras is planning to introduce an advanced security system to make mark cards tamper-proof.The system would use an invisible 13-digit code which can be read using a scanner.The new mark cards will be used from this academic year,university vicechancellor G Thiruvasagam said.The VC said the new system will minimise manual procedures.As long as we follow manual procedures,there will be possibilities of manipulation.The new system will prevent this and help curb circulation of fake certificates, he said.Thiruvasagam said the university has corrected the problem of double entry of marks first on the answer sheet and later on the mark card by assigning the person evaluating the answer sheets to enter the marks on the cards too.The assigned marks are printed on the mark cards without another interface,the vice-chancellor explained.The invisible digital bar codes may include numbers,signs and symbols.The system was earlier proposed for colleges by the Tamil Nadu Higher Education Council.As part of the Future school project,the Tamil Nadu school education department has started issuing tamper-proof mark cards with 2D barcodes.The university has been spurred into action following allegations of large-scale malpractices in the BE/ BTech exams and distance education exams held in May-June 2011.Nearly 450 students had taken the exams.Those privy to the investigation said there were several malpractices besides manual correction of marks.Several records of the exams were missing.Whiteners were used to correct marks.Fifty-one officers including the control of exams,section officers and personal assistants have been named in the report, he added.

Chennai: The University of Madras examination fraud which could cost 51 officials their jobs was not without its moments of irony.Official sources said controller of exams T Leo Alexander,who relinquished the post of registrar on Thursday,had to sign the chargesheets against 30 officials fully knowing that a second list of accused included his own name.Alexander signed the chargesheets of 30 officials on Tuesday,by when a second investigation report had named him.Some officials feel this in itself is improper.When contacted,vice-chancellor G Thiruvasagam said the chargesheets were sent on Tuesday and it was signed by the then registrar-in-charge.Alexanders name is among the second batch of 21 officials included by the K Subburaj committee that investigated irregularities into the conduct and valuation of BE/ BTech and distance education exams in May-June 2011.The investigation had found that mark sheets of several candidates were tampered with.A syndicate meeting on May 31 that went on till 10.30 pm witnessed heated arguments among a majority of the syndicate members who demanded Alexanders ouster,and a few others who stood by the official.Finally,the decision went against Alexander.Sources said the discussion on the report began at 8.30pm,as the last agenda.After the vice-chancellor read out excerpts from the Subburaj committee report,a majority of syndicate members asked him to read out the 51 names mentioned in the report.That is when Alexanders name came out.A section of members led by a civil engineer tried to defend Alexander and claimed that the committee had exceeded the terms of reference by going beyond the findings of the previous S Karunanidhi committee.The Subburaj committee did not have the mandate to indict more people,they argued.A majority of the syndicate members,mostly academic members,put down this argument and the syndicate accepted the report,excluding only a suggestion to initiate police and legal action against the named officials.Several senior faculty members in the university said the VC should take serious action against all the officials who are found involved in the exam malpractice.This institution is more than 150 years old and it has a great tradition.The VC should have the courage to take action against bad elements and say no to political influences that try to protect the erring officials, said a professor.On Friday,the vice-chancellor told TOI that he had sought explanation from the 30 officials named in the Karunanidhi report.We will take a decision within 15 days, he had said.

30 Madras University Staff Face Action For Exam Fraud,21 More In The Firing Line As Registrar Steps Down

Arun Janardhanan | TNN

The removal of T Leo Alexander as the registrarin-chargeof University of Madras is the first of a series of corrective steps that the university has decided to take following an examination scandal.The university syndicate,the highest decision-making body comprising top academicians,has set in motion disciplinary action,including suspension,against 30 staff members who were named in two reports on exam malpractice.Similar action is likely to be taken against 21 more offic i a l s w h o h ave b e e n chargesheeted in the second report.Alexanders name does not figure in the first list of 30 prepared by the S Karunanidhi committee in December 2011,but he has been removed from the crucial post till the matter is settled.The names of Alexander and 20 others were added by the K Subburaj committee which probed allegations of tampering of mark lists of BE/ BTech and distance education candidates in May-June,2011.The 200 -odd candidates who benefited were taking a re-examination for papers they had failed to clear more than 10 years ago.Alexander was the controller of exams at the time of the alleged irregularities.When contacted,Alexander refused to comment.I have no authority to comment on these issues, he said.University vice-chancellor G Thiruvasagam was not available for comment.Asyndicate meeting on May 31 accepted the Subburaj committee report,except a part which recommended serious legal actions to wipe out bad elements in the academic system and administration. This partof the report alsourgesthe syndicate to take a decision,since police action will alone meettheendsof justice and put a full stop to such activities. Having removed that part from the accepted report,now the syndicate is likely to take action against the officials under 17(b) of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal ) Rules,which includes suspension from service.The Subburaj Committee included experts including a retired director general of police,a deputy secretary and an undersecretary to the Tamil Nadu government.arun.j@timesgroup.com

THE CHARGES

1

in Institute Manipulation 2011 of Distance found in Education examinations,University conducted of Madras by the,May

2

examinations in Procedural June 2011 lapses BE,BTech detected

TIMELINE

May,June 2011 |

Large-scale irregularities in examinations are reported in the University of Madras.The university syndicate appoints a committee,headed by Prof.S.Karunanidhi,to probe allegations

The Subburaj Committee submits report.Says nexus is larger than thought.Names 21 more officials,including the present controller of exams

June 2012 |

The vicechancellor orders removal of controller of exams from his additional post as registrar to facilitate further inquiries

TAKEN TO TASK

A committee headed by Prof.S.Karunanidhi chargesheeted 23 staff members and seven exam superintendents of the University of Madras,who were in charge of examination procedures,in its December 2011 report.Based on the charges of the Karunanidhi Committee,Madras university vice-chancellor Dr G Thiruvasagam appointed a fresh committee headed by the syndicate member K Subburaj.He was assisted by senior government officials,including a retired DGP.The Subburaj committee report named 51 officials,including the 30 in the Karunanidhi committee report,The current controller of examinations,Lio Alexander,was also in the list

Chennai: University of Madras has replaced its registrar following a controversy over a rigged exam.T Leo Alexander,holding charge as registrar since June 2011,has been relieved of his post after a committee found him and 50 other university staff responsible for lapses in the 2011 BE/BTech and distance education exams.Koteeswara Prasad,former head of the universitys department of politics and public administration,has taken over the administrators post.Prasad occupies the Rajiv Gandhi chair instituted by the Union government in the university.The action comes in the wake of demands for disciplinary action against Alexander and the others after a syndicate meeting upheld a panel report that indicted them in the exam scandal.Allegations of irregularities in BE/BTech and distance education exams surfaced following an internal audit in mid-2011.The audit found that many officials were involved in malpractices,which benefited more than 200 students who took a re-exam last year after failing to clear their papers more than 10 years ago.When contacted,Alexander refused to comment.He continues to be the controller of exams.Vice-chancellor G Thiruvasagam had constituted the K Subburaj committee to go into the allegations again after the S Karunanidhi commission in December 2011 found 30 officials responsible for the lapses.The Subburaj committee upheld the findings of the earlier report and added 21 names,including that of Alexander who was the controller of exams when the irregularities took place.

Chennai: A director of a deemed university on the outskirts of the city hanged herself at her residence in Selaiyur on Wednesday evening,police said.Police said Rajini,35,who worked as a lecturer at Bharath Deemed University where she was also a director along with her husband Sridhar,didnt report for work on Wednesday.Her husband,a lecturer at the university,had left for work and the couples two children were at school.In the afternoon,Rajini sent her driver to get medicines for her headache from a particular pharmacy in Tambaram.When the driver returned he found the door of the house in the Ex-Servicemens Enclave locked.He peeped in through the window and found Rajini hanging from the ceiling,police said.The driver immediately informed Sridhar who rushed home and informed police.Neighbours told police that the family members was quiet and kept to themselves.No suicide note was found at the scene of the crime,police said,adding that they were investigating other angles whether there was a marital discord or if there were problems at workplace.The body was moved to the Chromepet General Hospital for postmortem.It will be handed over to the family after investigations are complete.TNN

Chennai: Postgraduate dental students who were allotted seats in private colleges on Wednesday through the governments single window counselling system were turned away by the colleges on Thursday,the last day for admission.The directorate of medical education conducted counselling for postgraduate medical and dental seats in self-financing colleges affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University after nearly four years,following the Madras high courts directions.Thirty-eight PG dental seats in six colleges and 33 PG medical seats in two colleges were allotted on Wednesday.The medical and dental councils mandate that colleges should surrender 50% of PG seats for admission through the single window system.Based on a petition,the Madras high court had ordered admission through counselling,where the rule of merit and reservation is followed.On Thursday,the students took the allotment orders to the respective colleges but were refused admission.The college officials refused to give acknowledgement letters and said they would contact us once a final decision in the matter was made, said Dr TK Diwakar,a student.The Indian Dental Association (IDA) is planning a gherao at the directorate of medical association office on Friday.As per court orders,the colleges are supposed to admit students, said C Sivakumar,secretary,IDA,TN branch.What the private colleges are doing is wrong, he said.

ALL CLEAR HC allows 3 colleges to admit students for dental courses under mgmt quota

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: The Madras high court,which had on April 27 restrained unaided institutions from admitting students for postgraduate dental courses without an entrance test,has modified its order and permitted three colleges to admit students under management quota.A vacation bench comprising Justice V Dhanapalan and Justice B Rajendran,passing interim orders on the vacate stay petitions filed by three institutions,said on Wednesday that they could admit students for their share of seats this academic year.Making it clear that the admissions would be subject to the outcome of the main petitions,the bench also requested the final hearing of the matter in the last week of June 2012 itself.On April 24,passing interim orders on a public interest writ petition filed by the Indian Dental Association,the high court had restrained all colleges from admitting students without following the merit list published by the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University which conducts entrance examination.The PIL,alleging largescale irregularities in admissions,wanted the university to be directed to monitor and supervise the admission process in these institutions.Aggrieved,three institutions KSR Institute of Dental Science and Research,Tiruchengode;Sri Mookambika Institute of Dental Sciences,Kanyakumari;and JKK Natarajah Dental College and Hospital,Komarapalayam had sought to vacate the stay.Noting that they followed the Dental Council of India-stipulated regulations in admission process,they said the admissions were on the basis of an entrance examination conducted by the Tamil Nadu Private Dental Colleges Association.It is not proper to restrain these colleges from proceeding with the admission process,they said,adding that the interim order had virtually prevented them from proceeding further in the matter.Acceding to their submissions,the judges modified the April 27 order,saying it had been causing hindrance to these institutions from proceeding further with their regular admission works.

Chennai: The University of Madras has rejected a research scholars doctoral thesis on charges of plagiarism and has banned the student from re-registering for the degree at the university.Plagiarism has affected the quality of research papers.Quality is very important.With this action,we want to send out a strong message that the University of Madras will not stand by such practices and ask colleges and guides to be very careful while selecting projects, vice-chancellor G Thiruvasagam said.Declining to reveal the name of the candidate or his guide,Thiruvasagam said,The foreign examiners who looked through the candidates thesis refused to recommend a PhD saying some passages were copied from other articles.Local examiners had cleared the thesis. He said action would also be taken against the guide.It is the guides responsibility to be cautious while checking the thesis for such issues, Thiruvasagam said.The vice-chancellor said the university had been receiving several complaints about plagiarized research papers when he was attending a public event in February.He said the university was considering procuring a software called Turnitin for Rs 15 lakh to check for plagiarized passages in research papers.Speaking to TOI on Saturday,Thiruvasagam said the university would use software that can be accessed through Inflibnet,an autonomous body of the University Grants Commission that allows sharing of library and information resources among academic and research institutions.Plagiarism reared its ugly head in February when a top scientist and advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,CNR Rao,had to apologize to a leading scientific journal for reproducing work by other scientists in a research paper.The corresponding authors sincerely apologize to the readers,reviewers,and editors for this oversight and for any miscommunication, Rao and his co-author S B Krupanidhi had said in an apology.

Medical seats start at 35 lakh for colleges affiliated to MGR University.A seat in a deemed university costs 28 lakh to 30 lakh.Sinha offers medical seats in Chennai Medical College,Raja Muthiah College,Sathya Sai Medical College and Meenakshi Medical college,among others.Medical seats are cheaper elsewhere,with seats in Karnataka on sale for 23 lakh and seats in Delhi available for as little as 10 lakh.For engineering aspirants,a mechanical engineering seat at Amity University in Noida can be bought for 4 lakh to 5 lakh and the rate at Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology,also in Noida,is 5 lakh to 8 lakh.When contacted,colleges said they were unaware about such agents or advertisements.We have no information about these activities.These are all unwanted elements who want to use the good name of SRM university and make some money, says SRM University vicechancellor Ponna Vaiko.All admissions at SRM are via the entrance exam and those who opt for direct admissions have to approach the admissions office directly and not through any agent, he adds.

Chennai: Getting an engineering seat has never been easier,with admission brokers now available at the click of a button.As touts advertise admission to engineering and medical colleges online,the sale of management seats is no longer a hush-hush affair.Several websites such as olx.in,sahipasand.com and locanto.in carry advertisements that offer direct admission in BE/BTech through the management quota.TOI contacted a few of these admission consultants to find that seats at top medical and engineering colleges across the country were up for sale from.1 lakh to.12 lakh.Many of these touts operate through hole-in-the-wall offices in places like T Nagar and Teynampet in Chennai.An advertisement by Ashutosh Singh on sahipasand-. com offers career counselling,career guidance and direct admission in SRM University.When contacted,Singh asks,What is your budget A mechanical or computer engineering seat at the SRM main campus costs between.6.75 lakh and.7 lakh.Booking for the seats started in the last week of February.If you wait any longer,the rates are likely to go up, Singh says.Rates are a little lower for other campuses of the same institute.A seat can be had for.1 lakh to.2 lakh at the universitys Ramapuram campus.The only difference is the tall buildings on the main campus, says Singh.Aryan,of Inspire Consultancy,has advertised on locanto.in.He offers,for a sum of.15 lakh,a seat in any National Institute of Technology,which admits students through the centralized All-India Engineering Entrance Examination.Its a slightly illegal process but I can access your answer sheet and mark the correct answers if you are willing to pay, he offers.But he suggests a private university,as the process is safer and easier.Private colleges also offer 300% placement, he says,referring to colleges that promise three jobs when a student graduates.Rates vary according to the courses too and you can expect to pay a heftier donation if you score poorly in the class 12 exam.Seats in courses such as electronics and telecommunications engineering or electronics and instrumentation engineering are available for.1.5 lakh.It is difficult to get you a seat if you score lesser than 65% in class 12, says Prabhat Sinha,who has put up an advertisement on olx.in.But we can make it possible if you are ready to pay one-and-a-half times the cost.

New Delhi: The Medical Council of India (MCI) has decided to take stern action against doctors,who had endorsed scientific recommendations submitted to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO),which were written by drug companies themselves.TOI reported on Thursday how drug companies have been caught red handed writing scientific recommendations of their own drugs and submitting them to the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) after getting them endorsed by reputed doctors for aspeedy marketing approval.MCI chairman Dr K K Talwar said the Council has taken cognizance of the TOI report on the drug scam and will soon initiate action suo motu.We will be asking the DCGI to reveal the names of all the doctors involved in the scam.The ethical committee of the MCI will examine the document and take stern action against doctors involved if proven guilty.Doctors should realize they are doing great harm to the country by such acts.Unfortunately,the system has permitted them to do so till now, Dr Talwar said.TOI reported how some of Indias top medicine experts (some are head of the departments ) from the countrys most iconic medical institutes like PGI Chandigarh;CMC Vellore;AIIMS Delhi and St Johns Medical College Bangalore had signed those recommendations.The Parliamentary Standing Committee said,There is sufficient evidence on record to conclude that there is collusive nexus between drug manufacturers,some functionaries of CDSCO and some medical experts. Usually,scientific recommendations are submitted by experts after they have studied a drugs content.

CIC to MCI: Disclose names of docs found guilty of negligence

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Medical Council of India (MCI) to disclose names of doctors found guilty of medical negligence or misconduct.The CIC has pulled up the Council and even awarded a compensation of Rs 3,000 for delay in giving information.It is necessary that information about name sof doctors who are found guilty by the ethics committee of medical negligence or misconduct are displayed on the website of the MCI said chief information commissioner Shailsh Gandhi.The order was in response to an application by S P Mancharida who had sought information related to the MCI decision holding four doctors from Max Hospital Pitampura guilt of medical negligence.TNN

Coimbatore: Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) officials on Wednesday raided the office and residence of Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) vice-chancellor and the office of its registrar in Coimbatore in connection with alleged malpractices in the purchase of cane harvesters.The officials filed an FIR against the vice-chancellor,P Murugesa Boopathi,and K R Ananthasainam,managing director of Elseetee Agro Machineries India Private Limited,after day-long raids at seven places in the city.According to the FIR,Boopathi and Ananthasainam were involved in a criminal conspiracy that enabled the Coimbatore-based company sell four defective sugarcane harvesters at inflated prices in the last academic year,flouting norms.The duo has been booked under section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy),420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property),13(2),13 (1) (d) of prevention of corruption act,1988.According to a press note issued by DVAC officials on Wednesday,TNAU purchased a sugarcane harvester on March 25,2010 for Rs 1.41 crore from Elseetee Agro Machineries India Private Limited.The machine had several defects that were noticed during a demonstration attended by the vicechancellor.The defects were not rectified.Yet,the VC placed a proposal for the purchase of four more harvesters before the TNAU board without revealing that the first machine was defective.Orders for fresh purchases were placed with the same firm at the same rate without taking concurrence of the board and without putting any condition for rectifying defects noticed during the previous purchase,DVAC said.DVAC concluded that Boopathi misused his official position by overruling TNAU authorities and deliberately misinforming them that the board had approved the repeat orders.Incidentally,the disgraced VC was the private secretary of former DMK minister Veerapandi Arumugam.We did not indulge in any misappropriation in the supply of these equipments.We did not deviate from any of the norms in the tender floated by the university for procuring the equipment, Ananthasainam said.DVAC sleuths also raided Boopathis residence in Chennai besides the office of the dean of Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute,Coimbatore,office of the professor and head of Agricultural Machinery Research Centre at the TNAU campus,office of the company and the residence of the firms managing director.

IN THE DOCK: The residence of TNAU VC Murugesa Boopathi (right) in Coimbatore was raided on Wednesday

Hyderabad/Chennai: The entrance examination of Chennai-based SRM deemed university was cancelled following a question paper leak in Hyderabad on Sunday.Nearly 1.5 lakh students,mostly from south India,were scheduled to write the university's entrance examination for admission to B Tech courses at 10am on Sunday.A Hyderabad-based techie and former student of the same university,Praneeth (25),was arrested for trying to sell copies of the question paper along with the answer key to students on May 5.Praneeth,originally from Khammam district,is an employee of a Jubilee Hills-based software firm,Indosoft International,police said.It was a local news channel that caught Praneeth on camera while he was trying to sell the question paper.Praneeth had fixed a rate of Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 for the paper and its answer key.The TV crew handed him over to the local Madhapur police on Saturday night.A case was booked against him under IPC 320 (cheating) and the AP Educational Act.About 30,000 students from Andhra Pradesh had applied for the university's entrance examination.AP is the second highest contributor of students for SRM University,which is one of Tamil Nadus leading deemed universities and conducts entrance tests in all states in the country.Madhapur police officials said the question paper was also being traded online to students based in other states including Tamil Nadu.The test had already been conducted across many centres before university registrar N Sethuraman announced the cancellation of the entrance exam around 2pm following protests by parents at various centres in Hyderabad.According to Madhapur inspector K Srinath Reddy,Praneeth got a copy of the question paper from his friend G V Reddy,a native of Vijayawada.Praneeth is a former student of SRM College and G V Reddy was his batchmate at the college last year."G V Reddy procured a soft copy of the question paper and sent it to Praneeth via e-mail,"said Srinath Reddy.The police retrieved the email from Praneeth's personal computer.Even photostat copies of the question paper were found with him."We are in touch with Chennai police as it is not known how G V Reddy got the question paper,"said Madhapur inspector.Officials from the university said that they had no idea about the leak till the news was reported by TV channels on Sunday morning."We got information about the leak confirmed from police officers of both the states by afternoon.Soon after,we decided to cancel the examination.The new dates for the entrance exam will be announced soon,"said Sethuraman.timeschennai@timesgroup.com

Chennai: Theory examinations in engineering colleges under the Anna University have been postponed by a week,according to a circular on the university website.However,the rescheduling would not affect declaration of exam results,said vice-chancellor of Anna University Mannar Jawahar.Even though the exams will get late by a week,we will make sure that the results are declared as per schedule, said Jawahar.We are also planning to declare the eighth semester results at least a week in advance so that students do not have a problem with finding job placements, he said.This is the second time that the exams are being postponed due to administrative reasons.Earlier,theory exams in more than 540 engineering colleges in the state were to be postponed from May 3,4 and 5 to May 28,29 and 30 respectively.The exams on May 28,29 and 30 were to be rescheduled to June 7,8 and 9.According to the new circular,all exams starting from May 7,2012 will now be postponed by exactly seven days.The students should be happy as they will get an extra week to prepare for the exams, Jawahar said.Anna University will also issue application forms for government quota seats in private engineering colleges in the state between May 11 and 31.Approximately two lakh application forms for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) are being printed and will be sold for admission to around 1.6 lakh government quota seats in the state, said Jawahar.No schedule has yet been fixed for the single window counseling for these seats.The forms will be available between 9:30am to 5:30pm in 58 centres across the state.These centres will be open from Mondays to Saturdays except public holidays.The forms can also be downloaded online.Class 12 results for state board schools in the state are likely to be announced on May 22.If students are not very sure of making the cut-off for the counselling,then they could wait till the results are declared to buy the forms, the vice-chancellor said.

Chennai: After 2010,when 127 youngsters from Tamil Nadu made it to the civil service,the states performance has dipped,with only about 100 candidates each being successful in 2011 and this year.Experts in the IAS / IPS coaching industry said that the below par performance this year comes as no surprise as the number of candidates from Tamil Nadu who cleared the preliminary test was also lower than those in the previous years.Usually more than 750 candidates from the state clear the preliminary exams.This year the number went down to 600.And only about 150 from the state cleared the mains, said B Manikandan of Manidhaneyam Free IAS Academy which has helped 34 candidates from the state realize their civil services dreams.Sathya,managing director of Sathya IAS Coaching Academy,said the change in the CSAT preliminary exam format made seniors wary of taking the test the first time as they did not want to test the waters with the limited number of attempts they had at the exam.Many first timers took the preliminary test this year.This did not help their cause.Mostly those who have taken the test several times and understand how to crack it clear the mains, he added.Aspirants also said geography,an optional subject in the main exam,popular among Tamil Nadu candidates,was tougher than usual this year.This year,a total of 910 candidates,including 195 women,were selected nationally for appointments to various central services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS),Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others.The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2011 was conducted on June 12.As many as 4,72,290 candidates applied for this examination,of which 2,43,003 wrote the test.A release from the department of personnel and training said 11,984 candidates qualified for the main written examination held in October-November 2011,of which 2,417 candidates were selected for the personality test conducted in March-April 2012.Those who qualify to become IAS,IPS,IFS and IRS officers will train at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie,while the other candidates will be coached at training centres in Hyderabad and Bhopal.ramya.m@timesgroup.com

Chennai: The minorities right to establish and run educational institutions which enjoy special constitutional protection,has been upheld by the Madras high courts May 3 order on determination of fee structure.Article 30 of the Constitution says all minorities,be it religious or linguistic,shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.Whatever is left unsaid in Article 30 is explained in two crucial rulings of the Supreme Court.In the Ahmedabad St Xaviers College Society case of 1974,the apex court spelled out four principal matters.They are: the minorities right to choose its managing or governing body;right to choose their teachers;right not to be compelled to take or refuse students;and the right to use its properties and assets for the benefit of its own institution.The other major verdict was the P A Inamdar case of 2005,in which the apex court supplemented the charter of rights by including the minorities right to frame reasonable fee structure and the right to take action against employees for dereliction of duty.These two judgments,in addition to a catena of judgments cited by the division bench on May 3,made one thing abundantly clear: The State cannot impose any restriction on the right of the minorities to administer educational institutions so long as such institutions are unaided by the state,except to the limited extent that regulation can be made for ensuring excellence in education. Perhaps building on the special protection in the Constitution as well as judicial pronouncements,the division bench has now permitted an additional percentage of school development fund to maintain the cultural network for minority educational institutions run by Catholic groups.The bench has also frowned upon the fee determination committee for having refused to accept Christmas bonus given to staff members in minority-run institutions and money spent on other religious activities,while proposing the fee structure.Minority institutions have their own cultural and social identity.The character of the institutions is sought to be tampered with by restricting the expenditure on certain heads relating to minority cultural activities like Christmas bonus to the staff and such other minority cultural activitiesAny restriction on the financial transaction of the minority schools would amount to dismember the cultural network of the minority institutions.Such disallowing of expenses would negate the right of minority institutions to retain their character as minority institutions. The committees attempt to frame a teacher-student ratio and teacher-non-teaching staff ratio,besides limiting their salary expenses to 60% of the total school budget,too,did not find favour with the committee.Noting that such restrictions would cripple minority institutions,the division bench said: We find that the committee unjustly restricted the strength of teaching staff as well as nonteaching staff.The committee ought to have accepted the strength of teaching and nonteaching staff as submitted by the institutions.Restriction of number has resulted in deficit for those institutions,virtually crippling the administration of the minority institutions. The bench has expanded the scope of minorities freedom to found and run institutions,by including cultural network and Christmas bonus as essential religious activities that shall be taken into account by the committee when it considers the matter afresh.

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University has urged the Union health ministry to remove the term surgery from degrees awarded to students of Indian medicine.In a letter to Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on March 26,vice-chancellor Dr Mayil Vahanan Natarajan said no surgery was involved in Indian systems of medicine ayurveda,unani and siddha and homeopathy.When the term surgery is suffixed to each course it gives the wrong notion to the public that the person with the above qualification can perform surgeries, the letter said.In July 2011,the university passed a resolution in the governing council revising the syllabus for Indian medicine.Dr Natarajan said the university would remove surgery from the nomenclature of degrees awarded to students of Indian medicine so that they would only be bachelor of siddha/ unani / ayurveda/ homeopathy medicine and not bachelor of siddha unani/ ayurveda/ homeopathy medicine and surgery.On August 17,the Central Council of Indian Medicine threatened to withdraw recognition to the state medical university.Students boycotted classes as they feared their courses could become invalid.Following this,state health minister VS Vijay assured students and practitioners that the decisions had been withdrawn.The Indian Siddha Medical Graduates Association has written to Azad urging him to deny the universitys request.Association president Dr M Selvin Innocent Dhas alleged that the VC was stealthily trying to use offices of the minister to change degree titles.TNN

Mumbai: Performance-enhancing drugs are no longer restricted to the high-stakes world of professional sports.Eleven participants at the 57National School Games in Delhifrom Maharashtra,Punjab and Uttar Pradesh,and aged between 14 and 19tested positive for such substances earlier this year.Alarmed by the dangerous trend,the governments National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) shot off a letter to various educational boards and universities across the country,asking them to ensure dope-free sports.The agency also wanted school authorities to keep a strict vigil on coaches and other sport-support personnel who are closely associated with schoolchildren.It was the first time that NADA officials tested school athletes and published the data.The ICSE board recently uploaded the circular on its website.More than 7,000 students had participated in the event.The agency collected 81 random samples from three categorieswrestling (30),boxing (31) and weightlifting (20).The analytical report of the National Dope Testing Laboratory showed up 11 samples containing prohibited substances.The occurrence of such positive results at the school level is a disturbing trend.NADA,being the regulatory body,is extremely concerned about it and has already written to the School Games Federation to review the matter, said Rahul Bhatnagar,director-general,NADA,in a letter to various educational boards.The championship was organized jointly by the School Games Federation of India and the Director of Education (Sports) of Delhi.While NADA officials were expecting to find use of anabolic steroids,they were surprised to discover that marijuana abuse was on the rise among school-level athletes.In its circular,the agencys officials have emphasized that education boards must take the incidence of doping among schoolchildren seriously,and initiate necessary action to curb the menace at school sporting events.Education boards may consider issuing necessary instructions for dope-free sports among children and,if required,inclusion of a chapter in the relevant syllabus in the educational system, the letter added.It is important to understand that indulgence in doping by schoolchildren,apart from being an unfair practice as far as sports is concerned,is extremely harmful and detrimental to the health of children.It is a concern for all of us as citizens and especially for educational boards such as CBSE,ICSE and state boards,which exercise some measure of control on schools, said Bhatnagar.The NADA circular has mentioned that it will organize dope-control programmes during the zonal and national level games organized by various educational boards.

NOT A FAIR GAME

National Anti-Doping Agencys circular to boards: An educational board should issue instructions to curb drug abuse at sports events If possible,a chapter on the topic should be introduced in the curriculum A strict vigil should be maintained on students coaches & sports-support staff

Chennai: The Madras high court judgment asking the school fee determination committee,now headed by Justice S R Singharavelu,to review the prescribed fee structure fixed for schools is likely to open the floodgates of appeals from schools,as the validity of the structure fixed by the committee comes to an end with the coming academic year.The number of schools demanding higher fee structure too will be much higher than the 2009 figure of 10,293 schools.For this year,the judgment means a big relief for 300-odd schools which had challenged the fee structure.We have been contesting the methodology using which the fee structure was drawn.If the courts direction includes guidelines on how the fee structure should be reviewed,it will not only help the schools that had appealed in court,but also others who havent.It will also give stakeholders a clear idea of how the committee arrived at the fee structure, said P Vishnucharan,correspondent of Shree Niketan Matriculation School,one of the schools that appealed against the fee structure drawn up by Justice (retd) K Raviraja Pandian in court.After parents of a private unaided school in Coimbatore took to the streets in 2009 protesting the high fee charged by the school,the state government drew up the Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act 2009.A fee determination committee formed under the Act with Justice (retd) K Govindarajan as chairman drew up the first fee structure in May 2010 and said that it was applicable for three years.Two academic years hence,there is still friction among school managements and parents.Schools other than those that had appealed against the fee structure hope that when they get a chance to submit their fee structure for revision at the end of three years,the guidelines prescribed by the court will be used rather than the present calculation.Many schools that did not accept the revised fee structure proposed by the Justice Raviraja Pandian fee committee chose to appeal against it with the fee committee instead of going to court.There are others who did not appeal against the first fee structure prescribed by the Justice K Govindarajan fee committee.

The bench said: When the committee formulated guidelines for determination of fees,at the time when the schools submitted their objections and materials,in our considered view,sufficient opportunity should have been given to the representatives of the schools.When the committee was to pass an order determining the fee having civil and criminal consequences,sufficient opportunity should have been given to the schools. Apart from the fee hike,the bench hearing the case has also permitted a hike in the school development fund by 10-25 % over original levels depending on the location of the school and its status as a minority institution.Schools within city limits are to levy 15% school development fund over the prescribed by the committee.In the case of schools in semi-urban /municipal areas,the hike will be 12.5%,and for schools in rural areas,10%.Catholic schools,however,are entitled to charge 25% extra school development fund irrespective of their location.For minority educational institutions run by Catholic dioceses and their various Congregations,keeping in view the 'Corporate Development Fund' maintained,it would be appropriate to allow 15% plus 10%,totalling 25%,as surplus for minority educational institutions irrespective of the location of the school, the bench ruled.Making it clear that these hikes are an interim arrangement,the court clarified that the benefits will be confined only to those 300-odd schools that had approached the court challenging the fee matrix proposed by Justice K Raviraja Pandian committee in June 2011.The court has also laid down exhaustive guidelines for the committee to follow while proposing a new fee matrix.

Chennai: Private schools under the state board in Tamil Nadu have finally received a go-ahead from the courts to levy a fee hike this academic year onwards.Hearing a batch of petitions filed by managements of about 300 such schools,the Madras high court on Thursday allowed them a 15% fee hike for academic year 2012-13.This would amount to a hike in the range of.500-. 4,000 per student for the year over and above the fees prescribed by a statutory school fee determination committee.But this is an interim measure the statutory committee has been directed to prescribe a final fee structure for all these schools by December-end.The schools had petitioned the court seeking a hike in keeping with the growing expenses involved in running the institutions and payment of salaries.They opposed the recommendations of the state-appointed committee,saying they were not provided an opportunity to present a case on rising expenditure.The bench pointed out that accounts prepared by the committees auditors did not reflect the actual expenditure,and it led to a huge deficit for the schools.

Chennai: The Madras high court has asked the government to grant no-objection certificate to the Vanniyar Educational Trust (VET) to start a law college at Tindivanam,saying legal education to rural students should not be denied on flimsy grounds.A division bench of Justices D Murugesan and K K Sasidharan made the observations while dismissing an appeal filed by the state government against the order of a single judge,who had directed the government to allow VET to start a law college.The trust had applied for permission for its proposed Saraswathi Law College for the academic year 2008-09.It moved the court after the government rejected the plea.A single judge pointed out that the two deficiencies noticed by the government had been rectified and hence the rejection was unwarranted.He asked the government to issue no-objection certificate to the trust.The government challenged the order.A basic degree holder is entitled to pursue legal education.Knowledge in law would improve the standard of life of students.In that view,imparting legal education to rural students assumes more importance and the same cannot be denied on flimsy grounds, the judges said.

Chennai: Mobile phone jammers and fingerprint scanners will greet aspiring medicos who appear for the All India Pre-Medical / Pre-Dental Test (AIPMT) at exam centres across the country on May 13.Candidates taking the exam will also be videographed.The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE),which conducts the test,has pulled all stops to check malpractice.The board has planned to take two sets of fingerprints and photographs of examinees,which will be matched with the candidates at the time of counselling or joining the college.As many as 30,788 candidates will take the test this time.One mobile jammer is expected to be used for a room seating 24 students.Cellphone jammers are expected to block cellphone / bluetooth service,including CDMA,GSM,3G,4G,spy camera and Wi-Fi.Considering the power cuts,the board is planning to use jammers that work on battery.Parents,guardians are advised to ensure their wards dont indulge in unfair activities or malpractices which breach examination rules.If any candidate is found to have indulged in any such activity,he or she shall be debarred from taking this examination permanently in future and shall also be liable for criminal action, the CBSE has said.The banned items include cellphones,pagers,electronic gadgets,slide rules,calculators,log tables,geometry box and digital watches with calculators.Text material,printed or written,papers bits and envelopes are also prohibited.So is tea,coffee or snacks.Smuggling out question paper or parts of answer sheet,threatening officials connected with the exam conduct or threatening candidates could get the candidate branded as indulging in unfair means. Educational consultant K R Maalathi said its only to be expected,given the wide range of malpractices adopted by some students.Theres tough competition and this initiative should be looked as something that is necessary to protect meritorious students, she said.Some timid students might feel uncomfortable,but they should accept it as a routine procedure that protects their welfare, she said.The board has identified 48 centres,including one in Chennai,where the security measures will be in place.

Keeping A Watch

CBSE IS MAKING SURE THAT CANDIDATES DONT INDULGE IN MALPRACTICES

FINGERPRINT SCANNERS

Two sets of fingerprints and photographs will be taken These will be matched with students at the time of counselling or admission

MOBILE JAMMER

One mobile jammer will be used for a room seating 24 students It will block cellphone/bluetooth service,including CDMA,GSM,3G,4G,spy camera and Wi-Fi The board is also planning to use jammers that work on batteries,considering the power cuts

Chennai: Fourteen dental colleges offering MDS courses have been restrained by the Madras high court from admitting students except based on meritbased rank list published by the state medical university.A division bench of Justice D Murugesan and Justice K K Sasidharan granted the interim injunction on a public interest writ petition filed by Indian Dental Associations honorary state secretary Dr C Shivakumar.The bench has posted the matter to June 7 for further hearing.Noting that admission to PG dental courses shall be based only on a common entrance or merit list,Dr Shivakumar said that though the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University had already conducted a common entrance test and published a rank list too,several colleges were not following due and transparent admission system.Several members of the association will be adversely affected and denied of their chances to pursue higher education despite the eligibility /rank on merits,the petition said.He said that be it a self-financing,aided or unaided,minority or non-minority,or deemed university,institutions offering PG dental courses are governed by various Acts,Rules and Regulations including the UGC Act,the notifications of the HRD Ministry and the notifications /circulars of the Dental Council of India (DCI).Dr Shivakumar said the only credible way to determine merit was a competitive test or a common admission test.The admission in respect of MDS courses in government quota was common entrance test,which was widely publicised and was transparently conducted by the state medical university,in consonance with the notification of the DCI,the petitioner added.Expressing the associations apprehension of irregularities in admissions to PG courses during the coming academic year,the petitioner said colleges and institutions had been attempting to evade the due process of law and conduct the admissions in an unfair manner for ulterior reasons.Citing complaints received during the previous academic years,he further said the institutions had flouted laws,rules and regulations by conducting an admission process in a hurried,non-transparent and ulterior manner.